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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27961070">Sunkissed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabariandmushrooms/pseuds/mabariandmushrooms'>mabariandmushrooms</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fire in her Heart [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Gentle Kissing, Morning After, One Shot, Partial Nudity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:23:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27961070</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabariandmushrooms/pseuds/mabariandmushrooms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a night spent with Naryu in her room in Vivec City, Ira expected to find her gone when she returned that morning. But to her surprise, she is still there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Dunmer Vestige/Naryu Virian, Female Vestige/Naryu Virian, Naryu Virian/Original Female Character(s), Vestige/Naryu Virian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fire in her Heart [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047856</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sunkissed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the dawn rose in Vvardenfell, Vivec City bathed in a pool of molten gold, and so did she.</p><p>Naryu lay almost exactly where she left her, with little more than a thin undershirt to cover her, as a ray of golden sunlight poured in through the gap in the curtains to embrace her with its warmth.</p><p>The only difference was that she was awake, her eyes opening and shutting as lay in the path of the sun's golden rays.</p><p>Awake now, <em>but still here.</em></p><p>It was a beautiful sight in itself, seeing her draped across the bed with the sunlight kissing her grey skin, where it wasn’t covered by the thin shirt she had borrowed from Ira. But the fact that she could witness it now, was even more remarkable, and somewhat...strange.</p><p>Like a gift, that Ira had never could have imagined receiving.</p><p>She had left her before the dawn had fully risen, seeking out the craft stalls to patch up the holes that had ruptured in her armour. When she returned, she had expected the room to be empty.</p><p>That was just how it was with them, how it had always been, even since that first night in Fort Amol.</p><p>A night spent in one another’s arms, a night like no other. Then, the dawn would come, and the touch of her skin against her own would be consigned to memory.</p><p>But not today. Not today.</p><p>It was a change to the routine they had established, but it was also so much.</p><p>It was a change to who they were.</p><p>“Have I rendered you speechless, hero?” Naryu asked her with her words heavy with sleep. “That would be a first.”</p><p>She chuckled to herself then, as she stretched out her arms and brought the covers over her, shielding herself from the harsh rays of the morning sun. But she made sure to keep her red eyes open, watching Ira carefully with that smile flickered across her face.</p><p>Ira felt so overdressed, and yet so exposed, as she stood in the presence of a scantily dressed Naryu, dressed as she was in the clothes she had stalked Vivec City in, a long sleeved loose fitting shirt tucked into leather trousers.</p><p>But that wasn’t why she felt so strange.</p><p>She turned away, mirroring the chuckle that Naryu had so graciously given to her. But it was empty, hollow. She was far less amused than her companion, more...confused.</p><p>She turned away with her arms folded across her chest, settling upon a different view. She peered out of the window of her room, looking out onto the city below where the day was beginning, and the stalls were swarming with patrons coming to peruse their goods.</p><p>She dared not look back, she couldn’t.</p><p>Her heart was pounding in her chest, her teeth biting nervously at her lips as she watched the people walk to and fro beneath her.</p><p>This was just...unfamiliar to her. Different. </p><p>“I just didn’t expect you to be here when I returned, that was all,” she said beneath a breath. “You took me by surprise, and not for the first time.”</p><p>She laughed, a light chuckle that brought a smile to her face for the briefest of seconds.</p><p>It had been a nice surprise, too. </p><p>But this wasn’t how it normally went. She was <em>always</em> gone when Ira returned, that was just how they worked. A long night followed by a quick escape, that was how it had always been between the two of them.</p><p>It was such a change, not just in their routine, but in what they were, and the question she had to ask herself, was if she was ready for it.</p><p>“Oh,” she heard Naryu say. “Well I hope you aren't disappointed–”</p><p>“No!” She cried out without even stopping to think, as her eyes shot towards her, only to fall away as a hint of embarrassment flared at her cheeks. “No...of course not.”</p><p>Her body burned as fiercely as that morning sun as she turned away from her again, her eyes falling upon the bustling city once again. </p><p>It was an easier sight for her to look upon, the city that was getting busier by the second, as people swarmed through its narrow winding streets and boats sailed into the canal, which unloaded goods and people straight into the heart of the city.</p><p>Naryu was meant to be on one of those boats, she had said as such only the night before. Another mission with the Morag Tong – it always was a mission with the Morag Tong.</p><p>So why was she still here?</p><p>"I just thought you'd be off on your next mission by now," she said to the woman behind her even as she kept her gaze upon the city below. "That's all."</p><p>She sighed gently, as she leant against the stone wall and ran a hand through hair as black as the night sky.</p><p>Why did she have to be like this? Why did she have to feel so confused? So out of place?</p><p>It was good that she was here. It was a good thing.</p><p>Her nights with Naryu had always been a highlight of her missions with the Pact, no matter how bleak the place may be, nor how hard the task before her, it had been a respite from it all, and a welcome one.</p><p>But she was always gone by morning, or Ira would be.</p><p>That was just their routine, what they did, who they were with each other.</p><p>It was simple, easy, and very much the opposite of what they were now: different, complicated, new.</p><p>And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. On those nights they had shared together before, they had come together beneath the gaze of the moon and revelled in something beautiful, and entirely unique to them.</p><p>Then she would drift off into a deep sleep, a sleep that was slightly calmer, slightly deeper, than on those nights when those arms weren’t there to hold her.</p><p>Those arms were gone when the morning came, that was just how it was between them. </p><p>But she had to admit, it always was just a little bit disappointing.</p><p>A pressure against her back brought her reeling mind to an abrupt stop, as she felt those same arms wrap themselves around her middle while a chin rested against her shoulder.</p><p>She relaxed, as words as gentle as a morning breeze tickled against the outside of a pointed ear. “Well, I don't need to leave for another three days, so…"</p><p>A hand came to her cheek, where a gentle nudge forced her gaze away from the city below. </p><p>Their eyes met. Sleep was still plaguing Naryu's, weighing down her eyelids and bordering them with dust. But they captivated her nonetheless, as they always did.</p><p>"I could stay here for a bit, if you wanted?" Naryu asked her then, with a voice as sweet as the birds who sung for the citizens of the city below while her eyes watched her carefully, intently. "Or I could go, if that's what you’d–."</p><p>"No!" She cried out suddenly.</p><p>No, she didn’t want her to go.</p><p>No, she didn’t want to leave again.</p><p>No, she didn’t want to feel the absence of those arms that were wrapped so tightly around her waist.</p><p>She knew now what she wanted.</p><p>"No, I'd like you to stay,” she said decisively, which earnt her one of those chuckles accompanied by a crooked smirk.</p><p>"I thought you'd be happy," she told her, as she leant down to press her lips against her own with that smirk still twisting her lips. </p><p>The sun kissed their skin, as lips pressed against lips and fingers ran through locks of black hair.</p><p>Where they touched, a fire burned, as it always did. It would have been so easy to relax into her arms, to fall into that same rhythm they had had on so many occasions now, giving in to the burn of those flames and basking in their warmth.</p><p>But something was different. This was different. </p><p>She <em>wanted</em> something different.</p><p>She was staying. She wanted more, more than this, more than they had ever given to one another before.</p><p>What they had now was something that they both understood, an unspoken pact between the pair of them where, once their roads crossed once again, they would come together, momentarily, and then part again.</p><p>They always parted again, once night turned to day, and a star filled sky faded into an iridescent display of shimmering golds and fiery reds, they would part with hardly a word.</p><p>A kiss, sometimes, but rarely ever a word.</p><p>Until today. The dawn had long since risen, and she was still here. The city had awoken, and she was still here. Ira had found her, awake to the world, and yet, she wasn’t fleeing, wasn’t running.</p><p>She was still here, and Ira wanted her to be.</p><p>She wanted her here. She wanted this.</p><p>She wanted <em>more</em>.</p><p>She pulled away from the kiss, catching Naryu’s face in her hands as she did so and drowning herself in those fiery red eyes.</p><p>Oh how she loved to lose herself in those eyes, and now she could be lost in them all day, not crying out for them when Naryu disappeared into the dawning sun.</p><p>Not anymore.</p><p>“Naryu,” she said with a voice that was hardly a whisper. “Stay here until your next mission.”</p><p>Naryu’s gaze lowered, her voice dropping to a whisper to match her own. “I will.”</p><p>“Stay with me,”</p><p>“I will,”</p><p>“I want to be with you, Naryu,” she said then with her tone more assured than before. “I want to be yours. I want you to be with me not just because fate has brought us together, but because <em>we</em> have brought <em>ourselves</em> together.”</p><p>They were silent for a moment, as the weight of her words hung over them both.</p><p>But Ira had no regrets. She had poured her heart out to her, and, of course, Naryu could walk away, could escape on her mission and never return.</p><p>But she had stayed. She had wanted more.</p><p>“I want you to stay, Naryu,” she said with a whisper upon a heartfelt sigh. “I want you to stay with me.”</p><p>The silence continued to reign, and it was heavy upon them both. She could see the rise and fall of Naryu’s chest, as she took one breath, and then the next.</p><p>Then, amongst the silence, those red eyes found her again, glistening in the light of the morning sun.</p><p>“Oh hero,” she said with one of her chuckles. “Have you gone soft?”</p><p>“So what if I have?” Ira shrugged. “One of us has to be.”</p><p>Naryu pulled away, her head falling to one side as she studied her with an ever widening grin. </p><p>Then, like the calling of the first bird at dawn, she laughed.</p><p>“See, this is why I was so reluctant to leave,” she said as she brought herself closer to her again, wrapping her arms around as she did so to pull Ira into a tight embrace.</p><p>Her lips were upon her again as she buried her face into her trailing black locks, pressing into the soft bristles of shaved hair that lay above her right ear. </p><p>“No one makes me happy like you do, Ira,” she whispered into her skin, and as she did so, Ira felt herself relax wholeheartedly into her arms, giving herself entirely over to the woman who held her so closely, so tightly, with such strength and yet, such care.</p><p>That was what was so endearing to her, what drew her to her again and again.</p><p>She was as strong and fierce as Ira, and as cold and sharp as the knife that always rested upon her hip. Yet on their nights together, she felt the tenderness in the heart, in the way that she held her, caressed her, cared for her. </p><p>And now she was going to stay with her.</p><p>Stay, until their work forced them apart again. Stay, when the world brought them together again.</p><p>Stay, for as long as she could.</p><p>She would stay.</p>
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